Removable oven door and hinge assembly



Au8- 27, 1968 R. H. BARBER 3,398,735

REMOVABLE OVEN DOOR AND HINGE ASSEMBLY Filed July l0, 1967 favenforx @ff 'garex 6872 39 03W/ p( United States Patent 3,398,735 Y REMOVABLE OVENDGGR A HINGE ASSEMELYv Roy Hailey Barber, Cleveland, Tenn., assignor to Hardv'wick Stone Company, Cleveland, Tenn., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 10, 1967, Ser. No. 652,129

7 Claims. (Cl. 126-191) I'- ABSTRACT oF THE DrscLosUnE. n f

An oven door having a hinge holder in sliding engagement with a hinge guide assembly which is pivotally connected at its lower end to the over door frame and has a hinge member pivotally mounted thereto, the hinge memberincluding a rearwardly extending arm connected by a spring to the frame and also including'a depending arm lying generallylongitudinally of the hinge assembly guide, the depending arm having a locking -lugwhich releasably engages in a locking slot of the hinge holder under the action of the spring to prevent removal of the door from the hinge guide, the rearwardly extending arm of the hinge member having its underside provided with a notched -projection which is adapted toengage with a hinge roller mounted on the oven door frame onl-y in one angular position of the door so as to move the locking lug out of engagement in the locking slot to allow the door and its hinge holder to be slid oif the hinge assembly guide.

This invention relates to removable door structures and more particularly to a removable oven door for gas and electric ranges and an improved hinge assembly for the same.

When cleaning oven compartmentsl and the front doors therefor, it has been proposed to provide for complete removal of the door from the range for ready access to the oven compartment. This is particularly desirable for reaching the inner recesses which might otherwise be omitted entirely or reached only with extreme effort. Prior art arrangements allowing for such door removal however have generally comprised complex structures involving a number of sliding parts and/or requiring time consuming alignment parts preparatory to removal of the door which led to the creation of disturbing frictional noises and/or possible malfunction.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a construction of an oven door hinge assembly which overcomes the above disadvantages in the prior art.

Thus it is a feature of the invention that a hinge assembly is provided for an oven door which permits removal of the oven door in a simple and improved manner when the door is in a partially open position, for example, at approximately a l degree angle to the vertical, and yet, prevents removal of the door from the hinge during the period when the door is closed or in any other angular position to which the door is opened.

A further feature of the invention is that a novel door hinge assembly is provided which not only allows for quick and simple removal of oven doors from gas and electric cooking ranges to facilitate cleaning of the oven and the door, but one in which the opening and closing of the door is accomplished with a minimum of noise.

Another feature of the present invention is that a novel simplified removable door hinge assembly is provided which minimizes the use of relatively sliding parts and the accompanying noises found in prior art devices.

A further object and/or feature of the present nvention is the provision of an improved removable door hinge assembly so characterized which is also inexpensive to rite v manufacture and yet particularly reliable and eicient in operation.

The foregoing and other advantages and uses of my invention will be apparent from the following description thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which: l,

FIGURE 1 is a side view of one form of range having a removable oven door and hinge assembly embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing a hinge support, a-hinge roller, a hinge assembly guide, and a hinge meinberlin their relative assembled positions;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the structure of FIGURE 2 as applied to the front frame of the range structure adjacent the opening of the oven compartment, the oven door and hinge holder being shown in an assembled position;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary side view illustrating the hinge member, the hinge guide, and the hinge holder in locked assembled position with the hinge holder and hinge guide -being partially broken away;

FIGURE 5 is a detail view of the hinge roller; and

FIGURE 6 is a view taken substantially along the line 6 5 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now to the drawing, FIGURE 1 shows a range 10 having an oven compartment or cavity 12. The oven compartment 12 has a generally rectangular front opening dened by a front frame 14 (FIGURE 3) extendingfrom a side wall 16 of the range structure and anged inwardly at an edge 18 of the front opening as indicated at 20. An oven door 22 is hingedly connected to front frame 14 adjacent the bottom of the oven compartment 12 so as to open downwardly from the top for ready access to the oven compartment. The oven door 22 includes an inner panel 24, an outer panel 26, and side or end walls 28.

Referring now to FIGURES 2-4, in accordance with the present invention, the oven door is hingedly connected to the front frame 14 by means of a hinge support 30 which is positioned within the front frame 14 and has a surface 32 welded or otherwise secured to the inner side of the front frame 14. The hinge support 30 has a flange portion 34 which forms a right angle with the surface 32 allowing the hinge support 30 to be positioned generally adjacent the edge 18 of the oven compartment front opening. A projection 36 on the hinge support 30 lies in the plane of surface 32 and supports a bracket member 38 which is secured to projection 36 in a conventional manner such as by a screw connection 40. The bracket 38 has a pair of generally parallel arms 42 and 44 (FIGURE 5) which support a pin 46 upon which is rotatably mounted a hinge roller 48. The hinge roller 48 has inclined surfaces 50 and 52 which form a generally V- shaped grooved roller.

The hinge support 30 has a support arm 54 extending outwardly perpendicular to the plane of surface 32. The support arm 54 extends between spaced portions 56 and 58 (FIGURE 2) of a hinge assembly guide, shown generally as reference numeral 60, and pivotally supports the lower ends of the spaced portions 56 and 58 through a pin connection 62. The spaced portions 56 and 58 of the hinge assembly guide 60 are substantially parallel throughout their lengths with the upper ends being offset toward each other to form a contact surface for welding or otherwise suitably securing the two spaced portions together.

At 64 is a hinge member which extends between the spaced portions 56 and 58 of the hinge assembly guide 60 and is -pivotally mounted on the hinge assembly guide by a pin connection 66. The hinge member 64 comprises a generally arcuate rearwardly extending arm 63 which passes through an opening 1S (FIGURE 3) in the front frame 14 adjacent the oven compartment 12. The opening 15 is a generally elongated slot of such length as to readily accommodate the hinge member 64 during opening and closing of door 22. Said arcuate arm of the hinge member 64 has a lower end 68 provided with a hooklike slot 70 which receives one end of a tension coil Spring 72 Iwhich serves to bias the door 22 to a closed position when in an assembled position and assists in releasably locking the door on the hinge guide 60 as will be described hereinbelow. The end of the spring 72 opposite that portion which engages the recess 7i! is suitably secured to a portion of the range frame.

The hinge member l64 also has a depending arm 76 (FIGURE 4) which is arranged to be readily received in the space between portions 56 and 58 of the hinge .guide assembly 60 and extends generally longitudinally thereof. Said depending arm 76 includes a relatively straight edge portion 77 and a projection 78 on the lower end thereof defined by edge portions 79 and 81. Projection 78 forms a locking lug which releasably retains the door 22 on hinge assembly guide v60 under the action of spring 72 as will be described hereinafter.

The hinge assembly guide 60 is itself in turn slidably received between a pair of parallel side walls 92 and 94 of the hinge holder indicated generally at 90 and shown aixed to the door 22. For this purpose, as illustrated by FIGURE 6, the hinge holder 90 includes the back wall 96 having flanges 93 and 95 which are welded or otherwise secured respectively to the inner bottom panels of the door 22.

In order to facilitate assembly and also removal of the door 22 in its hinge holder 90 from about the hinge assembly guide 60 the door 22 is provided with an opening 89 in its bottom wall of appropriate size and also a communicating opening 91 in the inner panel 24 thereof. These two openings are so lined that the door and its hinge holder may be freely slipped over the upper end of guide `60 and as it is moved downwardly thereover clearance will be lprovided for hinge member 64 and support arm 54. Also, as shown in FIGURE 3, an end cap 98 is welded or otherwise suitably secured to the side members 92 and 94 of the hinge holder 90 so as to form a stop which will engage the upper end of the hinge assembly guide 60 and x the assembled position of the door thereon.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, a feature of the invention is that the back wall 96 of the hinge -holder is provided with a locking slot 100y in which is received the previously mentioned locking lug 78. As shown in said FIGURE 4, spring 72 acts on the rearward arm 60 through the hinge member `64 so as to exert a force tending to rotate the hin-ge member 64 in a counterclockwise direction about its pivotal connection 66 such that edge portion 77 of its depending arm 76 is constantly urged thereby against the inner surface of the back Wall 96 of the hinge holder 90. By this means the locking lug 78 is releasably held in slot 100. It will be understood that this function of spring 72 is in addition to its more usual function of biasing the door 22 to a closed position against the oven door frame which also obtains about pivotal hinge connection 62 when the door is properly assembled on the hinge assembly guide `60.

Means are also provided for temporarily rotating the hinge member 64 in a clockwise direction about pivot `66 in one angular position of the oven door in order to retract the lock lug out of slot 10i) and soY permit the `door 22 and its holder to be slid off the hinge assembly guide 60. In accordance with the invention this angular position of the oven door is at some partially `open position thereof, for example from the vertical,

and as illustrated by FIGURE 4 is obtained by providing the underside edge of rearwardly extending arm 60 to the hinge member with a raised portion 80 which is divided into a pair of spaced projections 81 and 82 forming a notch 84 therebetween. Both the spaced projections 81, 82 and the base of notch 84 are radially spaced from pivot 62 a distance less than is the radial spacing of roller 48 from said pivot pin 62. The arcuate edge portions 86 and `88 of arm 63 on either side of said raised portion 80, however, have a curvature and are so radially spaced from pivot 62 that they overlie roller 48 in spaced out-of-engaged relation therewith during said pivotal movement of the hinge assembly guide 60 about pin 62. Of consequence the normal opening and closing of the doors is essentially free of noise. However as illustrated by FIGURE 4, projections 81 and 82 of raised portion are so positioned that when the door has been opened or swung on pivot connection 62 to the selected angle, in the illustrated example approximately 15, either projection 81 or 82, depending on the direction in which the door is being swung, will be effectively engaged by roller 48 so as to rock the hinge member 64 in a clockwise direction a distance sufficient to Withdraw lug 78 from slot 100. The lug may be retained in this retracted position by the roller 48 engaging in the notch 84 between projections 81, 82 of the raised portion 80. With the door opened to said position and lug 78 retracted from slot 100, door 22 and hinge holder 90 are therefore free to be raised and/or lowered longitudinally of the hinge assembly guide 60 in order to allow the door to be removed from the hinge assembly and transferred to another location, as ffor example for cleaning and/or making the oven compartment readily accessible, and afterwards reassembled therewith.

It will also be appreciated that with the door removed the engagement of roller 48 in notch 84 serves to retain and/ or to relocate the hinge assembly guide 60 in proper position lfor reassembly of the door and its hinge holder thereon. The assembly of the door and its hinge holder with guide 60` is obtained by simply locating the door with its hinge holder 90 aligned over the upper end of the hinge assembly guide 60 and then sliding the holder member 90 down longitudinally along the length thereof until its stop 98 abuts the upper end of the hinge assembly guide 60. Thereafter further opening and/or closing of the door will cause the roller notch portion 84 to move past the roller whereupon the spring 72 will again bias the locking lug into its normal locking position in slot 100 and so prevent removal of the door until it is again stopped at said angular position in which the roller engages the notch 84. As mentioned by reason of the fact that the under edge of the hinge arm 63 is normally spaced out of engagement with the hinge roller 48 except at the momentary engagement of projections 81, 82 of the raised portion `80 therewith, the opening and closing of the door is essentially noise free.

While the above description of the present invention suggests the hinge assembly being restricted to one side of the oven compartment, it will be understood that, in fact, two such hinge assemblies will generally 'be used to support the oven door, one assembly being mounted on each side edge of the oven compartment adjacent the bottom thereof.

From the above recited description of one form of my invention, it will be apparent that all of the recited objects, advantages and features of my invention have been demonstrated as obtainable in a simple and yet highly practical structure.

While I have described my invention for use in conjunction with oven compartments in gas or electric ranges, it will be understood that my invention may also be used with any door and hinge arrangement and that various changes and/or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it will be understood that I do not intend to be limited to such forms as above described except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, since modifications coming within the scope of my invention will be readily suggested to others with my disclosure before them.

I claim:

1. In an oven, the combination with a frame structure dening an opening thereto and a door for closing said opening, a hinge support mounted on said frame structure, a hinge assembly guide pivotally attached to said hinge support, a hinge roller carried by said hinge support, a hinge member pivotally mounted to said hinge assembly guide intermediate its ends and comprising a rst arm which extends generally lengthwise of said hinge assembly guide and a second arm which extends rearwardly thereof, a hinge holder secured to said door and slidable over said hinge assembly guide and depending arm of the hinge member, said hinge holder having a locking slot therein, said depending arm of the hinge member having a lug adjacent its lower end engageable in said locking slot to lock said hinge holder against removal from said hinge assembly guide, said rearwardly extending arm of the hinge member having a spring coacting therewith which yieldingly urges said locking lug into engagement with said locking slot, said rearwardly extending arm of the hinge member further having an arcuately extending edge on its underside shaped so as to be outof-engagement with the roller during pivotal movement of the door, said arcuate edge including a raised portion adapted to engage said hinge roller in one position of pivotal adjustment of the hinge holder about said hinge support for the hinge assembly guide, said engagement of the raised portion with the roller causing said depending arm of the hinge member to pivot rearwardly about its pivotal mounting to said hinge assembly guide so as to release said locking lug from said locking slot and permit removal of said door from said frame structure when in said angular position relative to the frame structure.

2. The combination of claim 1 including a stop means provided on said hinge member which prevent said arcu- 6 ate edge of said hinge member from engaging said hinge roller except when said raised portion of said arcuate edge is presented to said hinge roller.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said raised portion includes a notch vfor releasably holding the hinge roller and thereby to locate the door in position for its ready separation fromthe hinge guide assembly.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said hinge assembly guide comprises'l a pair of spaced portions between which said hinge member is pivotally `connected and the depending arm thereof is generally disposed.

5. The combination of claim 2 wherein said stop means is provided on said depending arm of the hinge member which prevents said arcuate edge of said hinge member from engaging said hinge roller until vsaid raised portion of said arcuate edge is presented to the hinge roller.

6. The combination according to claim 4 wherein said hinge assembly guide is pivoted near its lower end on said hinge support and wherein said hinge lmember is pivoted between said spaced portions of said hinge assembly guide at a point spaced outwardly along said hinge assembly guide from the pivotal connection of said hinge assembly guide to said hinge support.

7. The combination according to claim 6 wherein said locking lug is disposed between the pivotal connection of said hinge assembly guide to the hinge support and the pivotal connection of the hinge member to the hinge assembly guide.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,003,495 10/ 1961 Coultrip 126-194 3,150,659 9/1964 Ellis et al 126-194 3,155,088 11/1964 Barber 126-191 KENNETH W. SPRAGUE, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTI-GN Patent No. 3,398 ,735 August 27 1968 Roy Hailey Barber It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, line 5, "Stone" should read Stove Signed and sealed this 20th day of January 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. 

